LOST HOSPITALS OF LONDON
 Summerlee Auxiliary
Military Hospital
Fortis Green, East Finchley, N2


Medical dates:

Medical character:
1916 - 1920

Convalescent (military, later civilian)

Summerlee, a large mansion built around 1822, became an auxiliary hospital and convalescent home for wounded servicemen during WW1.  It had 40 beds and was affiliated to the Edmonton Military Hospital.  It was run by the local Voluntary Aid Detachment.  Dr J.W. Hicks was the officer-in-charge.

As the casualties of the war mounted, by 1917 the number of beds had increased to 100.  By end of the war in 1918 there were 75 beds.

When the war ended in 1918, the bedding was donated to the Finchley Cottage Hospital (whose children's ward was later named Summerlee).

In 1919 the house was temporarily loaned to the Great Northern Central Hospital and its convalescent patients were transferred from the Earlsmead Home of Recovery.

When the loan of Summerlee expired in 1920, the Management Committee of the Great Northern Central Hospital purchased Grovelands in Southgate for use as a convalescent home.


Present status (August 2009)

The mansion house, along with the other 'country estates'  along Fortis Green such as Fairlawn, Park Hall and Springcroft, has been demolished. They have all been replaced by new roads and housing.  The Summerlee estate is now Summerlee Avenue.

 

 Fortis Green Road
Looking along Fortis Green and the turn-off to Summerlee Avenue .

Summerlee Avenue  Summerlee Avenue
Looking down Summerlee Avenue from Fortis Green  (left) and from Southern Road (right).

Summerlee Avenue
Summerlee Avenue.
References
(Author unstated) 1917 List of the various hospitals treating military cases in the United Kingdom.  London, H.M.S.O.

Fenn CR 1919 Middlesex to Wit.  London, St Catherine Press.


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